quake and halflife make use of the .MAP format. it's ascii so it's easy to read. worldcraft (now called hammer) is a good (free!) level editor that can export to .MAP format. here (http://www.valve-erc.com/resources/?page=33mapformat) is a article explaining the insides of the .MAP file. good luck

b

[This message has been edited by coredump (edited 04-10-2002).]

runggu

04-10-2002, 06:36 AM

You say that Half-life and quake are good in outdoor???

DFrey

04-10-2002, 07:12 AM

Saying what is the best map format involves knowing your requirements, and your graphics API of choice, OpenGL I assume, has little to do with these details. The map format is just a storage format, that should be independent of how it is rendered (for the most part). There are just too many unknowns for anyone to supply you a suitable answer. Like, what kind of terrain mesh will you be using? Will terrain be rendered differently from architecture? Will terrain use a form of CLOD? If so, do you need to store any precalculated values? How will lighting be implemented? What about collision detection? Will you use a precalculated collision hull, realtime collision boundaries, or simple offsets. In the end, you will know what will be best for your application, once you fully understand all the details of your application. To sum up, I am saying, the best format is likely going to be a custom format you make yourself.

coredump

04-10-2002, 08:04 AM

actually, i didn't completely read his original post. Quake and HL do mostly use indoor maps. creative level design can result in outdoor-ish type of environments, although it would never compare to, say, Tribes or Giants.